AN: I do not own anything recognizable.

Chapter 2

With the excitement from the party now behind them, Andi's announcement that she would be attending Shadyside Academy for the Visual Arts was one of a rather bittersweet nature. Everyone was extremely happy for her, and her parents were especially proud. Buffy, Cyrus, and Jonah were happy and proud, too, but they were disappointed that Andi wouldn't get to attend high school with the rest of them. Jonah was particularly shaken by this emotional news. Could one blame him? Buffy and Cyrus had been friends with Andi for such a long time that they knew they would always be able to stick together no matter what; Jonah had two short years of going to the same school as Andi, and he feared that going to separate schools would mean that they would drift apart. Whether it be as an eventual significant other or a forever friend, Jonah knew that he wanted Andi in his life. They had such a special bond that was unique to those two that it would be awful to have to let that go.

As this news hit hard, the group was able to shake it off in the moment by agreeing that they would hang out the next day at The Spoon. They wouldn't say goodbye; they knew there was no reason to do so. The bittersweet news stuck in the back of all of their minds – more so in Jonah's – but they were able to carry on.

Andi's announcement did, however, influence the flow of conversation that night. Cyrus was excited about his new relationship with TJ. He wanted to announce it right away, but he put that aside to show his support for a long-time friend. Besides, he decided that it would probably be better for TJ to be there for the announcement too, since they were all friends. Also, the realization dawned upon him that he had not actually asked TJ about coming out and being open about their relationship, so it was something he should probably do before telling all of his friends about it.

When Cyrus got home that night, he opened his phone and saw a text from TJ. TJ sent the hand-holding emoji followed by a wink. This made Cyrus blush like crazy. In fact, the thought suddenly dawned upon Cyrus that if these texts made him blush, maybe he blushed in front of TJ that night without even realizing it. That would have been so embarrassing, and the thought of it made Cyrus blush even more.

In an attempt to re-direct the focus of the conversation, Cyrus remembered earlier that night when TJ told Cyrus what TJ stood for. He went online and found songs to send to TJ. He sent the link to Thelonious Monk's "Well You Needn't," and the link to the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses." He picked the first one to serve as a response to TJ's emojis as if to say 'you needn't be so cheesy.' He then chose the second one because he believed it to be a somewhat romantic track. On the other end of the conversation, this made TJ laugh hysterically, and he also blushed. That still didn't stop him from texting Cyrus:

I know you're just sending me those as a diversion because your face must be SO red right now.

Needless to say, when Cyrus read that, he blushed even more. It was confirmed that TJ saw him blush earlier, and he was extremely embarrassed. Cyrus sat there and tried to figure out how to respond. Sending an entire jazz album to distract TJ wasn't an option, or at least it wasn't going to be effective.

Before Cyrus could respond, another text appeared from TJ that read:

Don't worry. I think it's cute.

Cyrus still didn't know what to do. He hadn't seen this side of TJ before. Now, his crush that he just found out felt the same way was calling him cute! He was so embarrassed that he couldn't figure out what to do. Instead, he moved on.

Hey, umm…, he texted, How do you feel about telling our friends?

Which ones? replied TJ.

Andi, Buffy, and Jonah.

Cyrus was nervous about telling them, too. He knew that they would be happy for him and that they already accepted that he was gay, but this was his first time actually in a relationship. He wasn't afraid of telling them; he just didn't know what to expect.

Sure, TJ responded, As long as that's it for now.

Deal.

Cyrus was excited. That's an understatement. He was ecstatic. Although he was nervous, he couldn't wait to tell his new friends about this recent development.

Do you want to join us at The Spoon tomorrow? I can ask if it's ok, but you'll probably be welcome.

This was a bit sooner than TJ expected. It made him a little bit nervous that Cyrus wanted to reveal the news the very next day. Then again, he knew that they were all really close friends, and he wasn't very surprised at Cyrus's haste.

Yeah, as long as it's ok, TJ replied with some odd combination of hesitancy and excitement.

Great! I'll ask!

Cyrus switched to a group chat with Andi, Buffy, and Jonah, and he asked if TJ could be welcome at their lunch the next day. Sure enough, they all said yes. Andi indicated "the more the merrier," and Jonah was his usual agreeable self. Buffy was tempted to send Cyrus a wink emoji, but she remembered her conversation with Cyrus the previous night. It seemed to her that she might have been wrong, and if that was the case, she didn't want to mess with Cyrus's feelings any more than she may have already. Instead, she just sent an agreeable "Sure" in order to avoid making any assumptions.

As TJ waited for Cyrus's confirmation, he listened to the two songs Cyrus sent him, being some of his favorites ever. It's like Cyrus could read his mind. It was a side of TJ that didn't come out very much, but it might have had something to do with the fact that it was a dimension heavily influenced by his parents.

Cyrus passed the message on to TJ, and they both went to bed looking forward to the next day.

At around noon the next day, the group of Andi, Buffy, Cyrus, Jonah, and TJ all met at The Spoon and took a seat at a booth by the window. Since there were five of them and the booth seated four, they had to put an extra chair on the end. On one side was Buffy and Andi; TJ and Cyrus sat directly across from them. Jonah sat on the end.

The group sat and talked for a while about usual stuff that occurred in their day-to-day lives. For quite some time, there was nothing quite out of the ordinary about their conversation. New relationships didn't come up, and neither did Andi's acceptance to SAVA. The most unusual thing talked about was Jonah's recent move and the fact that they were all glad that his family was able to get back on their feet. Jonah was grateful that he had such good friends that stuck by him in such an emotionally demanding time.

Amber came and took their order. "Well," she stated kind of nonchalantly as she approached the table, "the group just gets bigger and bigger."

Everyone knew what she meant. It used to just be the original good hair crew. Then Jonah started hanging out with them regularly, and now, TJ. They had been friends for a while, but they hadn't all been together at a place like The Spoon very often.

Buffy and Cyrus ordered their usual baby taters and chocolate shake.

"I'll take that please," said TJ, curious to mesh more of Cyrus's interests with his own.

They kept talking while they waited, and Amber brought them their food. During the conversation, Cyrus and TJ held hands under the table and exchanged several glances and smiles with each other when they believed no one else was looking.

When they started eating, Cyrus couldn't help but to notice TJ sipping his milkshake through the straw that matched the color of his beautiful green eyes. He couldn't wait any longer to make his announcement.

"Hey, so…" he started. Cyrus captured everyone's attention with the hesitant nature of his words. The problem was that he didn't think through what he wanted to say, and he wasn't exactly sure how to make the announcement. "I have something I want to tell you guys."

"Is everything okay?" asked Andi with a bit of concern as to why her friend hesitated.

"Yeah, everything's fine!" Cyrus reassured her with conviction. He looked over at TJ for some help, as he tried to find the right words.

TJ knew what Cyrus was trying to do, and he tried to think quickly. The truth was, though, TJ just wasn't that great about thinking on his feet when it came to situations like this; it's not like he had been in them very often.

In somewhat of a re-enactment of the events from the previous night, TJ slowly reached for Cyrus's hand under the table. This was it. This is how they would announce their relationship.

When Cyrus felt TJ's hand touch his, he smiled and took ahold of it. Andi and Buffy were pretty quick to catch onto what was happening, but they didn't want to say anything so as not to ruin the moment. They did glance over at each other and smile, but Cyrus and TJ didn't even notice because at that point they were so wrapped up in each other, living the previous night all over again. When they grasped each other's hands, they said no words and simply lifted their hands above the table for everyone to see.

Andi and Buffy smiled at them and sent the mental message that they were happy for Cyrus and TJ.

The first person to comment was Jonah. A reluctant smile spread across his face as he watched his friend start a wonderful new adventure. "I'm happy for you two!" he proclaimed, switching to his usual Jonah cheer. "But," he asked for clarification, "when did this happen?"

Cyrus simply laughed. He wasn't exactly sure what to say to that. He couldn't pinpoint the exact moment that he realized he had a crush on TJ; he just kind of knew.

While Cyrus laughed off the question, Andi and Buffy started laughing at Jonah.

"Since the beginning of time!" Andi and Buffy joked simultaneously after a shared glance.

Jonah shrugged this off. Cyrus, on the other hand, didn't realize that Andi knew about his crush. He knew that Buffy was really savvy, but he didn't think Andi had a clue about this.

With a happily perplexed expression and demeanor, Cyrus asked, "Wait, Andi, you knew?"

To this question, Andi cheerily responded, "Duh! It's so obvious! I've seen the way you two look at each other!"

At the mention of this point, both of them glanced at each other and blushed, which of course only solicited more teasing from the rest of the group.

While Cyrus questioned Andi's knowledge, TJ became embarrassed because of Buffy. Once again, she was right about something in his life about which he was clueless. He hated admitting that Buffy was right. Sure, they were friends at this point, but why did Buffy have to know so much more about TJ than TJ did? And why did she always have to be right about his life? First it was the dyscalculia, and now this! At this point, he wouldn't have been surprised if Buffy knew he was gay before he did! Although that would have gotten under his skin quite a bit, TJ decided to skip that discussion so as to preserve the friendship that he and Buffy had worked so hard to build over the past year. He was mainly just embarrassed, but he was able to brush it off, and the conversation continued.

"So," Jonah butted in curiously after a somewhat awkward moment of silence, "when exactly did you guys become official?"

Cyrus was more than happy to respond, and for more than one reason. "TJ-" he started with a huge grin on his face. TJ knew where this was going, and he elbowed Cyrus in the side a little bit harder than he intended to, causing Cyrus to grimace. Of course, Cyrus got the message, and he changed course from the goal of telling the whole group TJ's name. He continued, "TJ and I got to talking last night at the party, and we realized that we weren't telling each other about the feelings we had for each other. And we became-" Cyrus trailed off. He didn't exactly know what they became. They said that they were "official," but official what? They never put a label on their relationship, and Cyrus was hesitant to do so because he wasn't sure if that's what TJ wanted.

"Boyfriends," finished TJ, "we became boyfriends." He smiled at Cyrus, who smiled back at him with that adoring look that he couldn't seem to shake whenever he so much as glanced in TJ's direction. He was relieved that TJ wanted to call it this because that's what he wanted as well.

"Yeah," added Cyrus, "we're boyfriends."

Everyone at the table smiled and voiced how happy they were for the new couple.

After about a total of an hour at The Spoon, TJ got a text saying that his parents needed him back home for something.

"I have to get going," he said disappointedly after he read the text, directing his words at Cyrus.

"So soon?" Cyrus was curious but understanding.

"Yeah, sorry, my parents need me at home. We've been doing some maintenance around the house, and they need me to help." TJ spoke with a mild frustration that any 14-year-old boy might have when asked by their parents to do extra chores. He knew he just had to go and do it.

"Alright," conceded Cyrus. He got up to let TJ out, and the two of them sort of awkwardly hugged goodbye. This was new territory for them, and they were in a public place, so they weren't exactly well-versed in how to appropriately show their affection for each other. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah, I'll text you later," TJ said happily.

Once TJ left, Cyrus sat back down and was met with large smug grins from his friends across the table as Jonah just sat there and smiled.

"What?" Cyrus said somewhat defensively while beginning to turn red and break a smile.

"Nothing," Andi said smugly and suggestively.

Buffy just laughed with Andi, and the conversation continued for a few more minutes before they were ready to leave.

When they all left, Andi and Jonah walked in a different direction out of The Spoon than did Buffy and Cyrus, in accordance with their destinations. This left Buffy and Cyrus walking together for a while.

"So," Buffy started suggestively with a smirk as they walked a bit away from The Spoon, "You and TJ?" She could hardly contain herself.

Cyrus smiled. "Yeah, it's great!" He had kept it together while they were in the restaurant because he didn't want to seem like too much in front of TJ, but he couldn't hold his demeanor much longer. He was just so excited, and he couldn't wait to talk one-on-one with Buffy about this!

Buffy responded to Cyrus's characteristically bombastic display of excitement with a joyful laugh and overall demeanor of happiness.

"I told you he didn't like Kira," Buffy remarked, in the same bragging tone one might be heard saying "I knew it!"

All Cyrus could do was smile.

"Seriously, I'm really happy for both of you," Buffy changed her tone to a less self-complimenting one to a softer, more congratulatory one.

"Thanks, I really appreciate it," replied Cyrus. He wanted to acknowledge his friend for how good a friend she was, and he became mellower. "And thanks for being there when I couldn't see that things were looking up."

"Of course," she reassured Cyrus.

Cyrus also didn't want there to be any unpaid debt between him and his friend. He wanted to be just as good a friend to Buffy as Buffy was to him. He remembered that they had talked about Marty the previous night and that Buffy was struggling too. He wanted to make sure that he didn't ignore what Buffy was feeling just because he was happy.

"So, did you talk to Marty last night?" he asked curiously and with caution.

"As a matter of fact, I did," Buffy responded. She brightened up as soon as Cyrus asked the question.

Cyrus noticed Buffy's sudden shift in mood from happy to a smug sort of excited. This excited him, too, as he prepared for the good news.

"Really? What happened?" he said in the same hastily excited way that he had spoken when preparing to finally hear TJ's name.

Buffy laughed. "I said that I wanted to try straightforward talking instead of just witty banter…"

"Yeah?"

"And then that didn't work, so I walked out because I was embarrassed."

"Oh." Cyrus was disappointed in this news, and he felt bad for making Buffy talk about it. That is, of course, until she kept talking.

"But then he followed me and we tried again. I told him that I like him, and that I was telling him in case he ever changed his mind about not wanting a relationship."

Cyrus was excited again as he had a feeling he knew where this dialogue was heading. "And then what?"

"He took both my hands and told me that he'd never changed his mind."

"Aww! Yes! I knew it!" Cyrus exclaimed loudly.

Now it was Buffy's turn to blush, but she wasn't done telling the story.

"And we kissed!" Buffy yelled out a little bit louder than she meant to, out of pure admiration and excitement.

"YOU WHAT?" Cyrus stopped in his tracks and stopped Buffy with him. He turned to her, shocked and gleeful at hearing this news.

"We kissed!" Buffy repeated with the same level as excitement as before. "He said all those things, and then he kissed me!"

"Wait, so," Cyrus began to tease, "am I hearing that last night Buffy Driscoll had her first kiss?"

Buffy was all smiles. "You don't have to be so shocked," she responded.

The roles reversed, and Cyrus pulled out his own smugness. "You're just jealous because I had my first kiss before you had yours." Sure, it was with Iris, who he only dated for a very brief amount of time before he realized he was gay, but it still happened, and he was still excited when it happened. He would still always have that memory to look back on.

"Shut up," Buffy said playfully while laughing.

They both laughed together.

"In all seriousness though," assured Cyrus, "I am happy for you, and I hope things go well for you two."

"And I hope things go well between you and TJ," replied Buffy with a soft smile.

The two friends walked together being mostly quiet for the rest of their walk, reflecting on the events of the past twenty-four hours and being happy for each other. They were both glad that they were right about the other, and they couldn't wait to see what came next for each other.

AN (last): Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Here are the links to the songs Cyrus texted TJ, in case anyone is interested in listening (I do not own either; they are links to external sources). Chapter 3 coming soon!

Well You Needn't: watch?v=FOvKLvWuZjg

Wild Horses: watch?v=ZNaqBBjrIZw